Shanghai seeks to ease seven-week virus lockdown with next few days

Residents wearing masks walk along a quiet street in Beijing (AP)

Shanghai will try to reopen within a few days as a Covid-19 outbreak in China’s largest city subsides, an official has said.

The strict lockdown of the city – now in its seventh week – is part of the ruling Communist Party’s “zero-Covid” goal that has exacted a mounting economic toll that even the World Health Organisation (WHO) says may be unsustainable.